Improved arrangement of the steam-engine



Nrrnn STATES rines.

.WENT

FREDERICK P. DIMPFEL, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 820i, dated July l, 185i.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK I?. DrMrrEL, of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have made certain new and useful Improvements in the Steam-Engine, and more particularly in the manner of connecting the steampiston with the crank, so as to render the whole apparatus more compact, and to obtain a longer stroke of the engine in a given space than has heretofore been obtained, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of such parts of a steam-engine as are deemed necessary to elucidate the nature of my improvements thereon. This engine is represented as standing vertically, although its position may be altered 'without changing the nature of my improvements; but this vertical position is to be preferred where there are not any serious obstacles in the way of adopting it. A A is the steamcylinder, B the piston-rod, and C the cross-head, a top view of which latter is given in Fig. 2. D is a slide upon the cylinder, there being another on its opposite side.

Fig'. 3 is a top View of the cylinder and of two metallic rings or belts which surround it and which are to play up and down with the piston, one of these rings E E being attached to the cross-head by the side rods, F F, of which there are four, the cross-head C G being bifurcated or divided into two parts at each of its ends, as shown at G G, Fig. 2, the sides of the connecting-rod N N, to be presently described, passing alternately into the spaces G G in the cross-head as the crank revolves and the piston reciprocates. D( D are guideblocks attached to and making a part of the vibrating ring E E, and which embrace the slides I) D, and thus serve to cause the crosshead and piston to move vertically. Should it be found necessary, a parallel motion may be attached to one of the ends of the crosshead to cause it to work steadily. Under the foregeing arrangement the cross-head is made to stand at right angles with the crank-shaft, this being necessary in order to allow it to pass up between the cranks and to effect the saving of room consequent thereon. I is the crank, standing immediately over the cylinder, J one end of its shaft, and K one of its pillow-blocks. L L are columns which support the cap-pieces M and the pillow-blocks K. There are four columns L L, two on each side of the cylinder. N N is the connectingrod, which, instead of consisting of a single bar, is forked in the manner represented-in the drawings, its stub end embracing the crank, its cross-piece y standing transversely to the crank-shaft, and its two bars, N N, eX- tending downward on opposite sides of the cylinder. This connecting-rod will at its upper end vibrate from side to side toa distance equal to the throw of the crank, and it is to admit of this vibration that the ends of' the cross-head C are bifurcated, the bars N N passing alternately into the spaces G G. The lower ends of the bars N N of the connecting-rod are attached to a ring or belt O O, which surrounds the ring or belt E E. These two rings are connected together by joint-pins at P l?, in the manner of gimbals. The cylinder Q represents that of an air-pump, the piston and piston-rod R of which may be carried by a cross-head, S, the rod T being a slide-rod passing through a socket at U, there being a similar slide-rod and socket on the other side of the piston-rod It. Vis a vibrating lever connected by link-rods W to the vibrating rings or belts E O, and by link-rods X to the airpump cross-head S. The air-pump, when one is used, may be otherwise arranged, my improvements not depending upon the particu lar manner of combining this with the other parts of the engine. I have contemplated the forming of the lower part of one of the columns L into a condenser and another into a hot well, which can be readily effected by any competent machinist should such an arrangement be deemed elligible. Under the foregoing arrangement it will be seen that as the crank-shaft is made to revolve the rings or belts E and O will be moved up and down on the outside of the cylinder, being guided by the slides D D.

In Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings I have represented an improved puppet-valve such as is'attached to my steam-engine, the object of which improvement is to cause it to offer less resistance in opening under the pressure of steam than that to which it is ordinarily subjected. In this figure a c is a puppet-valve resting on its seat. b is the valve-stem, and c a small valve, of which the larger valve, a a, constitutes the seat. YVhen thestembisraised, the valve c will be lifted, and this may have a play of half an inch (more or less) before it comes into contact with the bar or crosspiece d, attached to the main valve, which it will then lift. The raising of c will allow steam to pass through its seat and under the main valve a a. which will consequently be lifted with facility.

The withindescribed manner of connecting the steam-piston of an engine with the crank adapts it in an especial manner to marine purposes, as will appear by the following coniparative dimensions and weight of the engine placed on board the Steamship Mississippi, and the dimensions and weight of one of equal power, if constructed on my plan, and results equally favorable might be obtained by comparing my engine with those ofequal poweron board of other steamships.

Engine T ofthe M5216 Difference. i Mississippi. mueemcn Total length of boiler l and engine 75 feet. 61 fcct. 14 feet. Length oiengineinhold. 29 feet. 15 feet. 14: feet. Length on berth-deck.. 29 feet. 10g feet. 18g feet. Moving weight 55, O00 lbs. 25,262 lbs. 25), 738 lbs. '.L'otal weight 110, 000 lbs. 50, 524. lbs. 59,476 lbs.

power. A unich longer stroke of the piston isl obtained by it than upon any other known plan. The length of the stroke of the piston in the engine of the Mississippi is seven feet, while in mine it will be ten feet, thus permitting me to employ a crank of five feet radius instead of only three and a half feet.

From the peculiar compactness of my new arrangement it may be used on board of sailing-vessels of the best form without interfering therewith, and should it be found convenient to change its position and to work it either horizontally or obliquely to adapt it to submerged propellers all advantages desirable from its -compactncss and diminished weight will still be retained.

In the accompanying drawings I have also shown an improved manner of arranging and combining the steam-pipes, steam-chests, and valves. It is as follows:

Fig. 5 is a sectional representation of a steamcylinder having at its upper and lower ends cylinder-heads of apeculiar construction, each of them being so formed asto constitute two chambers, one of which is an induction and the other an eduction chamber. d d is the cylinder, and e e f f are steam-chambers formed in the cylinder-heads, each of which heads consists of a double plate, g g' and h h. In Aeach of these heads there is a partition which divides the space between the two plates into two semicircular chambers.

Fig. 6 is a top View of the upper head, the partition which divides the space between 7th and g g into two being shown by the dotted lines z' t'. j is an opening which in Fig. 5 is shown as covered by a cap, 7c, having in it a stuffing-box for the passage of the stem of the valve Z, which valve has its seat in the plate g and opens upward. m is a plate on the lower head similar to that marked It in the upper; and n a valve in the plate g', also furnished with a stufliing-box and opening upward. The opening o in the plate h, Fig.y6, is similar to the openingj in its office-that is to say, it is situated directly above two valves in the respective plates g and g', but operating in a direction the reverse of that of the valves Z and n-that is to say, the uppermost valve opening downward and the lowermost opening upward. The openingsp and g in the plate h h are for the reception ofthe induction and eduction pipes, one of which is shown at r r, Fig. 5, and the other (not shown) being similar thereto. The induction and eduction pipes cross each other below the lower head, as they have to connect with the reverse chambers in the upper and lower heads. The valve-lifter s s, Fig. 5, rises to `admit the steam into the cylinder, supposing the space c to be operating as an induction-chamber. The valves in the opposite chambers, which are supposed to be under the opening o,will, on the contrary, have the rod corresponding with s s to move in the reverse direction to effect the same purpose.

In the arrangement of the upper head, as shown in Fig. 5, said head cannot be removed so as to get at the piston without disconnecting the steam and eduction pipes at the part where they are joined by flanges, as att t, which is attended with considerable inconvenience; but this may be obviated by the particular manner of constructing and putting on the upper head, as represented in Figs. 7 and 8.

The general arrangement of the chambers, valves, induction and eduction pipes is the same with that above described, and represented in Figs. 5 and 6.

In Fig. 7, d is a sectional view of a part of the cylinder, e e the steam-chambersandrr a steam-pipe. This steam-pipe enters a small chamber or nozzle, u, two of which are cast onto the cylinder, as indicated by the letters u u in Fig. 8. This last figure represents the top plate of the head corresponding with lt h in Fig. 6. o and z 0 are two arched spaces which constitute steamways leading from the induction and eduction pipes into the respective chambers. By passing screw-bolts through the edges x w around this head-plate and through flanges cast on the cylinder in the ordinary way said plate may be secured in place and it may be removed with the same facility as the heads of other cylinders.

By this arrangement of the heads and other parts there is a great saving effected in the steam admitted at every stroke of the cylinder, such saving' being equal to one-fifth, or nearly so, when this improved mode of arrangement is compared with that Which is usually adopted. The steam contained in the steam nozzles or passages leading from the valveseats to the head of the cylinder as formed in the ordinary engines is by this arrangement entirely saved. The valves in the plates g y and g g are flush, or nearly so, when closed, with the internal faces of those plates or heads. It will be manifest that slide-valves might be substituted for the puppet-valves herein spoken of, while the general arrangement of the parts upon which this improvement is mainly dependent might remain unchanged.

It is evident that the construction and arrangement of the valves and valve-chambers above described will not affect-the method I have described of connecting the steam-piston and crank, and that this method may be used in connection with valves and valve'chambers differing in construction and arrangement from those described in this specification.

In the foregoing description I' have stated that the crosshead of the steam -piston is forked at its opposite extremities to allow the bars of the forked connecting-rod to play through it. It is evident that the same result will be obtained if the cross-head is made single and the side bars of the connectingrod are forked to embrace its opposite extremities, this arrangement being, in fact, the converse of the one I have described. l

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The method herein described of connecting the steam-piston of a steamengine with the crank thereof by means of a piston-rod, fixed cross-head, side bars, forked connectingrod, and belts, or the equivalents thereof, these several devices being arranged and operating, substantially as herein set forth, in such manner that the cross-piece of the connecting-rod which is placed transversely to the crank-shaft shall be on opposite sides of the axial line of said shaft at opposite extremities of the stroke of the piston.

2. rhe belts or gimbal-rings, or the equivalents thereof, arranged, substantially as herein set forth, for the purpose of transmitting the movement of the cross-head to the connecting-rod of a steam-engine.

FR. P. DIMPFEL. 

